Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone i’m a recently returned player after being a pretty hardcore TPvP player in a decent TPvP clan. The clan eventually disbanded and everyone moved server so i gave up (about 6 months ago) so i’ve missed allot of patches and changes ankitten ow looking at gw2 like it is a new game.

what i would like help with is advice on a class for WvW. I will level primarilly past 10 in WvW and at 80 will be in WvW all the time, the pvp is what i really enjoy in this game and WvW even more so. Im looking for a class that is good for soloplay when in leveling alone/small groups/ and eventually big groups with large pvp, i don’t want it to be a class that solos easily but has little group versatility at maximum level thus making me useless and struggling to get guilded. Im not asking for op classes or builds here just a suggestion/help in what classes i should be thinking about , im currently thinking warrior/thief/guardian. Thanks in advance for replies

(edit moved from general forum via request)

Gaurdians are terrific in both solo situations and in a zerg. Just carry different weapons for each situation. (Greatsword / Hammer + staff for a zerg, Greatsword / Hammer / Sword + focus for small groups).

Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist are the top 3 all around classes. Rangers and Thieves round out the top classes in this game overall, but neither the Thief or Ranger is all that valuable to larger group/zerg play. One brings a single field, the other brings the ability to blast said field. That’s where their worth in a zerg ends. One could argue the benefit zergs elsewhere by scouting out enemies (Eles can do it just as well) or by killing Dolyaks and attacking doors to throw up false swords (lol, do you really want to do this as your intended role?).

But yea, can’t go wrong with Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist as each are quite powerful and valuable in any situation (zerg, small group, roaming, solo).

for the complete list in my order I’d go:

Guardian
Mesmer
Elementalist
Warrior
Necromancer
Engineer
Ranger
Thief

Atherakhia.4086:

Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist are the top 3 all around classes. Rangers and Thieves round out the top classes in this game overall, but neither the Thief or Ranger is all that valuable to larger group/zerg play. One brings a single field, the other brings the ability to blast said field. That’s where their worth in a zerg ends. One could argue the benefit zergs elsewhere by scouting out enemies (Eles can do it just as well) or by killing Dolyaks and attacking doors to throw up false swords (lol, do you really want to do this as your intended role?).

But yea, can’t go wrong with Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist as each are quite powerful and valuable in any situation (zerg, small group, roaming, solo).

for the complete list in my order I’d go:

Guardian
Mesmer
Elementalist
Warrior
Necromancer
Engineer
Ranger
Thief

^^ ignore that list, it lost credibility once I saw necro is not TOP 2.

I have an 80 necro and back when gw2 first started all necros could do was stand on a wall and spam runes or spread conditions , and with all the condition removal flaying around and such long rune cd’s they where not exactly usefull. Has all that changed ? If so could you please explain there group and solo versatillity . Thanks

noobftw.9654:

Atherakhia.4086:

Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist are the top 3 all around classes. Rangers and Thieves round out the top classes in this game overall, but neither the Thief or Ranger is all that valuable to larger group/zerg play. One brings a single field, the other brings the ability to blast said field. That’s where their worth in a zerg ends. One could argue the benefit zergs elsewhere by scouting out enemies (Eles can do it just as well) or by killing Dolyaks and attacking doors to throw up false swords (lol, do you really want to do this as your intended role?).

But yea, can’t go wrong with Guardian, Mesmer, or Elementalist as each are quite powerful and valuable in any situation (zerg, small group, roaming, solo).

for the complete list in my order I’d go:

Guardian
Mesmer
Elementalist
Warrior
Necromancer
Engineer
Ranger
Thief

^^ ignore that list, it lost credibility once I saw necro is not TOP 2.

The reason Necros aren’t top 2 is because, while their utility is quite strong, their damage is easily negated by 3 different classes. All 3 of which outnumber necros 2:1 individually, so a necro is looking at 6 classes to every 1 necro able to completely shut down their damage. 2 of those classes can reapply boons faster than a Necro can remove them as well.

If it was all a utility debate, I’d probably put them above Warriors. But seeing as how they’re so easily shut down it’s really subjective.

Just play whatever class you find fun. All classes other than thief can play important roles in larger group battles when built properly.

If you’re looking to do some 15v15 GvG or something akin to that… then anything Necro and above on that list can easily take a spot.

Eng/Ranger can as well but they are more niche.

If you find everything fun… and have a specific guild in mind you should just want to ask them what they need most in what role. Guards and mesmers might be great… but not so great if the guild you want to get into has an abundance of them.

EllieHXO.6854:

I have an 80 necro and back when gw2 first started all necros could do was stand on a wall and spam runes or spread conditions , and with all the condition removal flaying around and such long rune cd’s they where not exactly usefull. Has all that changed ? If so could you please explain there group and solo versatillity . Thanks

condition removal has been nerfed , i.e. engi elixir only removes one condition now instead of all. And what’s worse is when you are feared, you have to use utility to break it (all weapon skills in cooldown when feared) or otherwise the fear will be chained and 30k hp will be gone in less than 6 secs. There is only weak condition builds but condition is nowhere near UP since release.
Necro has been brought up from bottom to top in popularity since 625 patch. Even before patch necro was nowhere near weak. The blind, terror fear, AOE condition, plauge it brings to zerg fight would melt full pvt warriors in seconds. Necro is the META class atm. I would understand if someone puts guardian on top of necro but warrior over necro??? that’s beyond me.

Aberrant.6749:

Just play whatever class you find fun. All classes other than thief can play important roles in larger group battles when built properly.

If you’re looking to do some 15v15 GvG or something akin to that… then anything Necro and above on that list can easily take a spot.

Eng/Ranger can as well but they are more niche.

If you find everything fun… and have a specific guild in mind you should just want to ask them what they need most in what role. Guards and mesmers might be great… but not so great if the guild you want to get into has an abundance of them.

thief can’t be important? lol, don’t be mad at troll thieves. Even a thief trolling 10+ zerg is contributing way more than any ranger in wvw. And thief brings dark field, posion field, blast and dagger storm in zerg fight, the support ranger can bring into zerg fight is next to zero. Rangers do need some ANET love (OK, ranger is good at single target, but needs more AOE and fields).

But back to your point. Any class/build is playable in wvw, below is a list that I knew:
D/D or S/D ele, dueling, roamer, small group fight
staff ele, zerg fight
condi engi, dueling, roaming, small group fight, zerg fight
rifle engi, dueling, small group fight.
staff necro, small group, zerg fight, not bad at all in roaming too.
staff guardian, zerg fight, small group fight.
GS shield scepter hammer guardian, roamer or small group fight.
longbow rifle warrior, zerg fight
GS axe shield warrior, roamer.
sb thieves, roamer, small group, zerg fight.
There are too many viable thief builds for wvw. But thieves are exceptionally good as scout or roamer, way better than what they can do in zergs
sb sword/dagger-torch-warhorn gw ranger, roamer, small group fight
longbow ranger, supposed to be zerg build but still really bad at everything atm, best role is to sit in tower and shoot from 1500 ranger.

Based on your criteria I would ignore the thief, ranger, necro and engineer. The guardian is a premier group class but low mobility hinders roaming. Still worth considering though. The warrior can be iffy but fun if that is a favorite play style. The mesmer is a utility class with decent all around ability.

The elementalist still remains the jack of all trades in this game. High mobility, great siege, good group buffs, decent condition removal, good damage and can solo fairly well. To play a D/D really well is more difficult than other classes, but when they are played well they are a handful and then some.

noobftw.9654:

thief can’t be important? lol, don’t be mad at troll thieves. Even a thief trolling 10+ zerg is contributing way more than any ranger in wvw. And thief brings dark field, posion field, blast and dagger storm in zerg fight, the support ranger can bring into zerg fight is next to zero. Rangers do need some ANET love (OK, ranger is good at single target, but needs more AOE and fields).

EllieHXO.6854:

I don’t want it to be a class that solos easily but has little group versatility at maximum level thus making me useless and struggling to get guilded.

Not every post with “thief” in it is some one mad about a ganker bro…

Dagger storm, pois field and a short dark field aren’t a lot to write home about… you also forgot stealth dropping caltrops btw… but those are all pretty weak. Cripple isn’t the best CC and other classes can put down pois and dark fields while having more support. Thief is capped at 900 range (which can be a problem for large battles).

Spamming blast finishers is useful, but you don’t need many thieves doing this. This is just about the only thing a thief brings to the table in a big fight.

The OP wasn’t looking for a solo class. Being a thief can make it hard to get into a nearly full WvW guild.

I find thieves to be weak even in 1v1 (despite all of the QQ from inexperienced players). Mes, Guard, Eng will beat them once you get above the lower skill levels. Sure you can run away like a boss and finish off low hp targets… but who cares… that’s not nearly as much help to a large group as what other classes can bring.

Thieves are great yak slappers and scouts… but lack the support and class diversity of other classes making them less desired than other classes. The thief needs some love… too many people have cried omg stealth op I got insta ganked no counter nerf nerf : /

Jackums.3496:

Just to inject on the Necro discussion, they’re easily top three with the Guard and Ele as far as contribution to group fights. The Mesmer is only anywhere near the top three due to their utility, as their damage output in large groups is mediocre due to lack of AoE. They exist for Portal, Feedback, Veil, and so on. A traited mark and well Necro offers some of the best AoE of any profession in the game. Add to that the addition of fear to Spectral Wall and the Necro is most definitely in the top tier.

In any uncoordinated group fight, the Necro is going to perform better than the Mesmer, as their utility only shines when the group is well-directed. The Necro need only throw around massive amounts of AoE, CC with fear, and boon-manipulation via wells and corruption skills. The Mesmer’s usefulness is dependent on others, whereas the Necro’s is completely independent. So how you’re defining profession usefulness will differ depending on the scenario and whether we’re talking utility or damage.

Wells can wreck groups… marks are very useful… spectral wall is amazing… CC and great for the protection boon for large pushes… A good necro can be pretty awesome in a large fight. +1

Even the best portal thieves that deal 5-10 k instantly burst are 100% a liability for whoever else is relying on them when fighting first class players…. All you have to do is grp a warrior/mes/guardian spin / shatter and thief can’t even come close to hangin in. Sorry, I drive a 5 man daily with a set group comp. when a thief is within the 5 we basically discount our grps capability because they can’t assist on our main target in the middle of Aoe.

Guardian might be the easiest class to play and be useful at the same time. Tons of utility but mostly condi removal, cc, and dps.

From what it seems your looking for than I’d probably go with engineer, necro, ele, or guardian

I would say a Necro or Ele would be best as all round chars for WvW. I find the ele the most useful however. You can use the same build and gear for a D/D to good effect with a staff. You buff people constantly with boons, provide fire and water fields on demand. Do good damage to siege, tag a lot of people for loot bags and have good survivability. If they pull you of walls and down you, then mist form is the best skill for saving your kitten . That build is even good in pve, so no need to switch builds (and gear) if you suddenly decide to do some pve content. But the learning curve is there. You got to know to switch attunements often, both with staff and with daggers.

The necro is nice but I always found it anoying that my attacks from my condition/fear necro did next to no damage to siege. If you are the only one who thinks about destroying that enemy treb, in the tower you just capped, it’s going to take a while. You could go power with the wells and staff however and use a dagger/warhorn backup. But you lack solo potential and will have no perma swiftness which is nice for solo or small group work (unless you switch out skills all the time, but that has its own problems). In general I find that the Necro can do a lot of things well, but not all of it at the same time with one spec and the same gear. While an Ele can.

I have seen several thief commanders doing pretty well however. Dagger storm is nice for diving into zergs and they are one of the fastest classes when using shortbow. It’s kind of sad if the commander can’t keep up with his own zerg :p. Other commander classes that do well are warrior and Guardian. A commander needs to be fast and not die to easily when standing still (sometimes you need to wait for people to stack up). I would not recommend playing an Ele, when planning to stand still in any sort of pressure.